Be Your Best

The No-Surgery Face-Lift

Plastic surgery, Botox, fillers – anything (and everything!) to help us look prettier and perkier is on the rise.

Why? It’s simple: We’re living in a society that puts a premium on being young, or at least looking that way. This can sometimes cause even the most levelheaded and prudent among us – men as well as women – to take drastic action.

Let’s not rush to judge those who choose to have surgery or less-invasive procedures. Because, as we used to say in retort to just about everything when we were kids, “It’s a free country.”

Indeed, perhaps we should all adopt the open-minded “Never say never” approach to getting older, as Michelle Obama did in a recent interview about turning 50. Though the F word (for “face-lift”) was never uttered, you’ll note the first lady left the door open about some possible future recourse to Botox or fillers.

Some people truly want to look younger than they are – and I wish them good luck in that quest – but I’d say the majority of us are simply trying to look really good while embracing our age, crow’s-feet and all. Fortunately, wanting to appear fabulous and acknowledging who you are now are not mutually exclusive.

Many of the older women I talk to, for example, would love to provide a little lift to their faces – especially given that we lose the protein collagen as we age, causing our skin to surrender some of its elasticity and firmness. With them I like to share a trick that can lift and brighten your face in minutes; I learned it from makeup guru Carmindy (yup, she goes by a single name) during an interview a few years ago.

Here’s what she told me to do: Gently dab and blend a little highlighter (I’m partial to Benefit’s Moon Beam or High Beam, or Yves St. Laurent’s Touche Éclat) on these three places: beneath your eyebrows; at the tops of your cheekbones; on the inside corners of your eyes. The net effect is to lift everything up – and make you look fabulous.